Saturday 10 February 2007 19.10 EST
First published on Saturday 10 February 2007 19.10 EST

The names may have changed, but the grand tradition of American bank robbers like Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson is alive and well and enjoying a revival. Now meet the Paparazzi Bandit, Panama Jack and the Harry Caray Bandit, who robs banks dressed as a much-loved American sports announcer. The British equivalent would be in a John Motson costume.

But the criminals are no laughing matter. New statistics reveal that America is suffering a wave of bank robberies, as many other crimes have fallen in number over the past decade. Many large cities reported a huge spike in bank robberies last year: Los Angeles has been dubbed the 'bank robbery capital of America', with 470 in 2006. Chicago had 284 heists, up from 2005's previous record of 240. One Chicago bank was robbed twice on the same day. Dallas and Washington DC both saw bank robberies double last year.

The crime wave has left the Federal Bureau of Investigation and city police departments baffled. One theory is that the proliferation of bank branches in store-front chains has created easy targets for wannabe criminals.

'It could be that the opportunity is much greater than it once was. More banks equal more bank robbers,' said a Chicago police spokesman.

Certainly banks have always presented a tempting target for America's criminals. The first bank robbery on US soil is thought to have been in Philadelphia in 1798, when a team of thieves hit the Bank of Pennsylvania and made off with cash worth $1.8m in today's terms. Since then, bank robbers have never looked back. Through Wild West gunmen such as Jesse James to the violent 1930s heyday of Bonnie and Clyde, bank robberies have become part of modern American folklore. They have been celebrated in lurid newspaper stories and Hollywood myths, often with the bank robber portrayed as a hero.

That might explain the strange cast of colourful characters that have hit US banks over the past year. Aside from the Harry Caray Bandit, there was the Los Angeles-based Paparazzi Bandit, who took pictures of the bank tellers he robbed. Then there was the chatty and friendly Hallmark Bandit, famed for asking bank staff how their Mother's Day or Father's Day had been.

It is not just a craze among young robbers either. The Granma Bandit tried to rob a Chicago bank with a toy gun while wearing shades and a sun visor that read 'Princess'. She turned out to be Melvena Cooke, 79.

One thing many of the modern bank robbers have in common is their unusual headgear. While it allows them to hide their faces from security cameras, it also gives them a gimmick to help identify them. So in the past year America has seen Panama Jack (who wore a Panama hat on heists), the Hardhat Bandit (a construction worker's hat), the Goofy Hat Bandit (a black fedora) and the Clown Bandit (mask, red wig and red nose). The latter was caught fleeing a hold-up on a bicycle in full costume which caught the eye of a passing off-duty policeman.

But behind the funny names lies a serious police tactic. FBI offices have a deliberate policy of naming bank robbers to generate media interest and leads. The FBI's Seattle branch has won a national reputation for the inventiveness and effectiveness of its naming policy for robbers. 'We've got hundreds of names for them,' said a Seattle FBI spokeswoman.

One of the most famous was the 'Can You Hear Me Now?' Bandit, who robbed 11 Seattle banks while talking in an irritating manner on his mobile. Another Seattle nickname was the Grumpy Bandit, whom tellers described as being in a bad mood. The publicising of his nickname in Seattle newspapers evidently unsettled the man. When a suspect was finally arrested, he told cops: 'I robbed the bank. But I'm not grumpy.'

But bank robbery is a serious problem, carried out by dangerous men. One of Chicago's most wanted is the Wheaton Bandit. He robs at gunpoint, terrifying staff and customers and threatening to shoot them if they raise the alarm. Police believe he is either ex-military or an ex-cop, because of the ruthless efficiency with which he carried out 16 bank raids, and fear he will eventually kill. There is a $45,000 reward for his arrest.

And so the reality is grimmer than the gimmicky names. Bank robbery carries a 25-year prison sentence and most heists do not net much cash. Though 284 banks were robbed in Chicago last year, the total haul was $4m - just $14,000 a robbery. Even the feared Wheaton Bandit has stolen only $150,000 in five years in a very high-risk profession. That means he earns the equivalent of a $30,000 annual salary (but without healthcare and with a dramatically lowered life expectancy).

It seems that in modern America bank robbing is a crime that does pay. But not very much.